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Hotel development plans for iconic Liverpool store site

One of Liverpool’s most reknowned buildings, the former George Henry Lee department store, is set to be transformed into a stylish apartment-hotel.

Gethar Ventures, a development firm based in Birmingham, has applied for planning permission to turn the upper floors in the Church Street side of the building into a hotel offering 150 rooms.

The “four star-plus” facility will cover more than 50,000 sq ft over six upper floors. Proposals also include plans for a restaurant on the top floor.

The building is part of the portfolio run by Liverpool One developer and owner Grosvenor. Currently, retailers Rapid Hardware, TK Maxx and Schuh occupy parts of the ground floor.

This will be the first project in the region for Gethar which is involved in two other hotel develpments in Birmingham.

The firm’s director Anthony McCourt believes the building is ideally suited to conversion into an apart-hotel.

He said: “It is a superb location just minutes from the major train links so should appeal especially to business travellers on stays of more than a couple of days. Liverpool is such a vibrant, exciting city and was a key-destination city for our business to develop and set up stall here.

“While there has been a flurry of activity in the budget end of the sector, with a number of finished projects recently around the Convention Centre, the city still lacks rooms in the mid range and above”.

The end value of the scheme will be £15m and it is expected to create around 80 construction and end-use jobs. The sale is being handled by Mason Owen on behalf of Grosvenor.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .